Article from BottomLine Personal July 2017 issue by Bill Gottlieb CHC, a health coach.and former editor in chief of Rodale Books & Prevention Magazine. “As a superfood, berries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries are in a class by themselves”.

They can be more health giving than medications or supplements according to experts at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The antioxidants  in berries deliver a pure dose of prevention and healing to the brain, heart and every other systems and cells in the body.

Scientists at the Jean Mayer  USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University have been studying for more than a decade the effect of berries on the brain in cells and in laboratory animals.  They found that regular ingestion of blueberries can help improve “plasticity”, the ability of brain cells to form new connections with one another..generate new brain cells..stop inflammation and oxidation from damaging brain cells  Ease the destructive effect of stress on the brain, prevent and reverse age-related memory loss, particularly short-term or working memory and protect against amyloid-beta, th plaques in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers from Tufts studied 37 people. ages 60 to 75, dividing them into two groups.  One group consumed one ounce of freeze-dried blueberries every day, the other group a blueberry placebo for three months.  Those in the blueberry group had a 20% improvement in their memory scores on a memory test compared with those in a placebo group.

Berries & Your Heart:

Researchers from Florida State University  studied 48 post-menopausal women with high blood pressure, giving them either one-third cup of freeze-dried blueberry powder daily or a placebo. After two months, the women getting the blueberry powder had a drop in systolic blood pressure of 5.1% and a drop in the diastolic blood pressure of 6.3%…decreasing the risk for heart attack and stroke.  There were no changes in the placebo group.

In a study published in Circulation journal, researchers examined 18 years of health data from 93,600 women and found that those who ate three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries per week (one serving is one-half cup) had a 34% lower risk  for heart attack, compared with women who ate them less than three times weekly.

Berries & Cancer

A scientific paper recently published by researchers from the Medical 

College of Wisconsin in journal Antioxidants shows that cranberries can help fight 17 different cancers, including bladder, blood, brain, breast, colon, esophageal, oral,prostrate and stomach cancers.

In several studies on colon cancer at the National Cancer Institute, reported daily intake of 60 grams of black raspberry powder(equivalent of 14 servings of black raspberries) reversed dozens of biomarkers of the disease. These studies showed that the powder can kill cancer cells,and stop cancer cells from dividing and growing.

If you are at risk or or being treated for cancer or a survivor… talk to your doctor about adding berries to a daily smoothie.  

For preventing cancer, eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day….including berries, according to Bill Gottlieb CHC, a health coach.and former editor in chief of Rodale Books & Prevention Magazine.